The Book
by Imperius Girl
Summary: A woman buys a copy of Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince 3 days before its release day. She hurrys home to read it when things go amiss. Warning Spoilers: none.


The Book

She could not believe her eyes. There it was. Three days before it was suppose to be on sale. Was this real she wondered? She picked up the book and quickly scanned through it. Yup, it looked genuine.

She took it up to the counter and asked innocently, "Is this the actual Harry Potter Book?"

The kindly gray-haired saleswoman smiled and said, "Certainly."

She pulled out her wallet and with shaky hands handed over her bills. The saleswoman placed her purchase in a paper bag and handed it over to her. "Enjoy dear!" the saleswoman said as she turned to leave.

The woman eagerly carried her bag outside the door, expecting an alarm to go off or turned the corner and walked another block.

"Oh. My. God. Oh my god! I've got it! T-h-e Book! The golden snitch of fandom" She shrieked and did the happy dance, not caring one iota about the stares she was getting from the conservative business people swerving to avoid her. She hurried to her car and got in.

She immediately picked up her phone and dialed in to her office. She waited until her boss picked up his phone. Lucky her! His answering machine picked up. He must still be at lunch, she thought. She made her voice sound weak and pathetic as she claimed that her lunch had upset her and she was feeling feverish and thought she would go home and get into bed with some medicine.

Not real lies, she thought to herself. She was upset… in a good way by her discovery at lunch. It certainly made her feel feverish… with excitement and she was going to bed as soon as she got home … since this was her favorite place to read at and she would be taking medicine. What could be better medicine than the book she's waited two friggin years for?

She shivered in anticipation and rushed off to her home.

When she got home she listened to her voice messages, opened her mail, fed her fish and cats and hopped into the shower. Afterwards she micowaved a quick dinner, then poured herself a nice glass of wine and set everything on her tray. She carried it into her bedroom and set it on the bed. She fluffed up all the pillows and adjusted the lights for an optimal reading experience. She got her bag from the store. She reached inside and pulled The Book out. "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". She climbed up onto bed and snuggled down for a long, uninterrupted read.

She gazed at the beautiful cover. She picked up her wine glass and said, "Cheers to another amazing installment." And drank some wine.

She opened the book.

_Chapter One_ she read. Then an astonishing thing happened!

The ink on the page began to run and swirl together. It formed a great grayish something – smoke-like and dense. It swirled off the page and began to form a shape...a head and then a neck and torso and arms … why, it was a gray ghostlike figure of a boy…a teen with wild hair! It stood up on her floor and walked to the end of her bed where it folded its arms and gazed at her. Was it? Could it be? A ghostly image of Harry Potter?

Whoa, she thought, I've only had one sip of wine!

She turned the next page and the process was repeated until a fog-like wraith of a girl with bushy hair stood at the end of her bed, arms on her hips next to the "Harry" apparition. The woman was quite stunned. She quickly flipped through more pages until her bedroom looked like the stateroom scene from the Marx brother's film "At The Opera".

She gazed around at all her favorite Harry Potter characters standing in her tiny suburban bedroom. Her mouth was hanging open. And oddly enough she felt as if all of the characters were miffed at her by their stances.

"Whaaat?" she shouted.

The figures all spoke in a whispery, distant manner.

"These books are protected by anti cheating charms. No one is allowed to open them until Midnight July 16th. We won't let you peek."

"Oh come on," she moaned, "I bought this book fair and square without any sort of cheating! Why are you doing this"

"J.K Rowling put spells on all her books so no one could have an advantage over anyone else. You'll just have to wait like everyone else." The dense shades drew themselves up in a threatening manner.

"But that is so unfair!" the woman exclaimed.

"Why?" the wavering voices asked.

"Because I live in California and all of England, Europe and the East coast will have hours of advantage before I even get to open my book!"

"Sorry Luv," came from two identical shades." Bet you yanks wished you had stayed in England!"

"Oh! This is so frustrating!" She sank back into her pillows. She decided to try another tactic.

"Oh pleas,e please, please" she begged and whimpered. " I have so many unanswered questions like how is Harry doing? (There is a choked sob from one of the figures)

What did they all get on their owls? (The bushy haired silhouette flung her hair around and stood up proudly)

How did the twins talk Molly into being ok about their drop out status let alone their joke shop? (A shorter and rounder figure "Hurumphed").

Is you know who really dead? Not You Know Who but you know who from OOP. Can he really be gone? That's just too cruel! (louder choked sobs)

Who is taking care of Buckbeak? (All the shadows shuffle and look at each other)

Does Remus get a job?("a growl in the background)

Does Percy stop being a git and come home? (there is a shocked group gasp) Ok, does Percy come home? (evil twin laughter to her left)

Does someone thrash that Bellatrix? (a mumble from the group)

Does Lucius escape? (A tall , elegant wisp touches his long hair shadow and mumbles, "Exquisite taste my dear")

And does he turn on the Dark Lord and Bellatrix for being idiots? (the same figure quickly hisses "Shhh, his spies are everywhere!")

Is Snape really trustworthy?" A tall figure with greasy smokey hair says, "50 points from Gryffindor for your cheek)

Does Hagrid marry Maxine? (A large shape to my right blows his nose on her duvet)

"Who is Quidditch captain this year?" (All the figures look uncomfortably away from the Harry figure.)

The questions poured out rapidly.

"Who's the Defense against the Dark Arts Professor? Does Harry continue with his DA club? What's up with Luna? Who is this Lion guy? What did Voldywart do to ensure longer life? What's up with the Chamber of Secrets? What did Lee, Angelina, and Alicia do after school? Will Remis and Tonks hook up? (a whispered "Huh?" from one of the figures)

Is the ferret going to do something wretched to Harry? What horrible tortures is RK going to do to poor Harry? WHO IS SHE GOING TO AXE OUT! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY LONGER. SHE BETTER NOT TOUCH MY FAVORITES!" It all came rushing out in a muffled sob and "a please not the Twins, please" mumble.

"I CAN'T TAKE THE SUSPENSE! YOU ARE ALL TERRIBLE MEAN OLD THINGS!" and she began to howl.

"Sorry! Don't take it so bad. It's just a book. Really! Muggles!" were whispered around her as the shapes quivered and began to dissipate.

"Wahhhh! It's so ruddy unfair!" she howled into pillow.

One gray, dense shadow calmly walked over to her bed and seated hisself on the edge. He reached over and patted her shoulder with his cold, wraithlike arm. In a calm voice he said "There.There. No one is saying you personally cheated. But ethically you should wait until everyone else gets copies. It's the right choice. A great man once told me it is our choices that show what we truly are."

She sniffled and said, "Thank you Professor Lupin. I'll wait with everyone else."

" Ah, now that's a good fan. Cheer up and drink some of your wine. What vintage is that?"

She answered, "It's a 2001 Paradigm Cab Franc. Here, have some."

The smoky shadow took a sip from her glass, savoring the taste before swallowing.

"Ah, yes. It is a most delightful wine. Will you be all right now?" Lupin asked

" Sure, I have 3 more bottles and I already called in sick."

"3 bottles did you say?" the Remus shadow whispered.

She nodded yes.

"Perhaps I'll stay a bit longer just to make sure."

When she woke the next morning the sun was burning brightly, Her eyes winced shut in pain, her head felt like moldy paper mache, her rmouth felt like a kitty litter box and her memory was tumbleweedy. She glanced at the empty wine bottles strewed around the room. Then she sat up quickly, remembering the previous day. She glanced around looking for The Book but it was gone!

In its place, on the bedside table, was a box with a handle. On the sides, in a beautiful scroll were the letters WWW. Skiving Snack Box First edition,

She picked it up in rapture. She grinned and decided she could wait two more days.

The End.


End file.
